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Dagenham & Redbridge are aiming to emulate Wrexham’s rapid rise through the divisions, with Premier League football ultimately in their sights.

KSI’s vision for Dagenham & Redbridge would rank among the most extraordinary climbs English football has seen if it comes off, but chief executive John Grabowski says there is little point in thinking small.

The YouTuber acquired a stake in Dagenham & Redbridge in March, a move Grabowski described as “transformative” for the club.

The side are now preparing to begin their season with an away fixture against Dorking Wanderers in the sixth-tier National League South, and they are heading into the campaign believing it can be the start of an upward journey through the English football pyramid.

KSI’s lofty target for a sixth-tier club whose ground holds a little over 6,000 supporters was greeted with plenty of scepticism, but Grabowski does not view it as impossible.

After all, Wrexham have already surged from the National League to the Championship, where they ended last season just one place short of the play-offs and will now try again to push for promotion to the top flight in the coming campaign.

Grabowski told FourFourTwo: “Everyone wants to know, ‘Cool, what’s the plan?’”

“It’s naive to think we have too grand a long-term plan, but it would also be foolish not to think long-term given the opportunity.

“We all know that in KSI’s announcement, he said, ‘We’re going to get to the Premier League.’

“The first time I heard that, I sort of went ‘Uhh!’ and did a little gut check, but it’s not my job to tell him that’s not possible.

“He followed it up quite quickly, saying, ‘It might take time, it might take 20 years’, and I think in that context, it is absolutely possible – why not us?

“Phase one is to get out of the National League and back into the Football League, then once we’re in the Football League again, we’ll regroup.

“We’ve got other plans, but I think talking about those other plans before achieving phase one risks us getting out a little over our skis.”

Matthew Ketchell, Deputy Editor